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Too Much Fun

Posted: May 02, 2008

When Deryle Perryman contacted me last week to say that he and fellow filmmaker Moises Gonzales were coming to Alabama and would I like to host a get-together at my home on Elk River, I said “Is an eight pound robin fat?” (I was once married to a guy from Michigan.) There is nothing I love better than a party, especially when it involves intriguing guests.

Unfortuately, my brother-in-law, blues musician Billy C Farlow, was in California for three weeks, but his friend Peter Thompson of Zane Records and his charming wife Diana were here from Reading, England. Deryle, who grew up in Florence, Alabama, offered to round up a few more folks in the music business from the Shoals, and I said I would invite some friends from the river. Deryle was particularly eager to meet and talk with Peter Thompson about distribution of his (Deryle’s) film Dangerous Highway about musician Eddie Hinton, as well as his current project—a documentary about Vietnam veterans, forty years later.

On the day of the party, Peter and Diana arrived promptly at 5 PM as they were no strangers to Elk River, having visited on previous occasions. Deryle and Moises, who were flying into Birmingham from Albuquerque, arrived around 6. About dinner time we all grew concerned over the whereabouts of Dick Cooper. Turns out he was not able to find my well-hidden abode and, having no phone number to call, missed the evening entirely. When I contacted him, I promised him I would bring Billy C and my sister to his next fish fry on Shoals Creek.

To conjure up the spirit of Billy C Farlow, I put five of his cds on the stereo plus the cd that Greg Spradlin had given me at the Alabama Studio Weekend and turned up the volume. The conversation flowed along with the wine and beer:  the music business, filmmaking, politics, socialized medicine, art, and food. As one must fight for the floor at an Elk River dinner party, there were at least five conversations going on at once. The ten of us—Deryle, Moises, Peter and Diana, John Farlow (BC’s brother), my friends Carol F and Faylee, and Susan Parker (Alabama Public Service Commissioner) and her husband Paul and I— sounded like a small army. (Pictured from left to right: Deryle, Peter, Moises, and Diana. Sorry about the wind chime hanging next to Deryle's head.)

Because Peter and Diana are what a friend in California calls “pescaterians,” i.e, vegetarians who eat fish, I made a dish called Shrimp Le Maistre (with gulf shrimp) from the Decatur Junior League cookbook Cotton Country Cooking, brown rice,Sister Shubert whole wheat yeast rolls (Faylee knew Sister Shubert when she was getting her start years ago in Troy, Alabama), and Frank Stitt’s arugula salad with buttermilk dressing. Stitt’s salad is supposed to be served with fried green tomatoes, but I did not think I could manage fried green tomatoes for nearly a dozen folks. I was delighted to find out that Peter and Diana had eaten fried green tomatoes in Birmingham, Alabama, at the Irondale Cafe, the original Whistle Stop Café. For dessert I served dark chocolate brownies— Duncan Hines, of course, since I panic at the thought of preparing anything that calls for sugar and flour or precise measurements. My daughter once said to a friend “Mother and I love chocolate chip cookies. We eat them right out of the tube.”

Just as we finished dinner, a crimson and purple sunset ignited the western sky and dyed the river tones of pink and lavender. Night descended, but we carried on late into the evening. It was 10:30 before the last guest was gone, and I was left alone listening to Billy C Farlow singing “I ain’t never had too much fun.”

---Penne J. Laubenthal

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I too, love it sweetheart. You really have the South in your heart....I am so jealous. I have yet to meet my pal Peter Thompson! If only I knew when he was coming across the pond! As for Billy C., well, "I ain't NEVER had too much fun!!" Billy is another one I need to see again soon! Good writing, fun stuff.

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PL, ...This dispatch highlights your culture, cognizance and elegance...hats off to you southern lady...

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